Wire-fence-making machine



(No mum I Winemes'." I

Pat anted Feb. I4, I899. A. sum.

WIRE FENCE muons Mcmua.

(Application flied June 18, 1898.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

IHI mu I!" I No. 6I9,628. I Patented Fqb. I4, I899. A. SMITH.

WIRE FENCE MAKING MACHINE.

(Application filed June 13. 1898.\ (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

. Q Q "IIII NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ASHER SMITH, OF MELVERN, KANSAS.

WIRE-FENCE-MAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,628, dated February 14, 1899.

Application filed June 13, 1898. Serial No. 683,308. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ASHER SMITH, of Melvern, Osage county, Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Wire-Fence-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to wire-fence-making machines; and my object is to produce a machine of this character of extremely simple, strong, and durable construction and by which a strong and durable fence can be rapidly manufactured.

VVith this and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a wire-fence-making machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line II II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents a section taken on the line III III of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a section taken on the line IV IV of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of a half-spindle having attached thereto the reel which carries the tie-wire.

In the said drawings, 1 designates a pair of transverse sills 'upon which is mounted a rectangular frame consisting of the parallel sides 2 3, connected by the cross-rods 4, said sides 2 3 extending at right angles to the transverse timbers 1, and said side 3 is surmounted by a track-rail 5.

6 designates cross-bars arranged between the cross-bars 4, and 7 a longitudinal bar connecting the same at their upper edges, said bar being provided with a plurality of camshoulders 8, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

Between the cross-bars 6 the bars 2 3 are provided with a series of semicircular equidistant cavities 9 and 9, respectively, and journaled at their opposite ends in said cavities are a series of half-spindles 9", provided with shoulders 9 to prevent endwise movement and at the front side of the frame with half sprocket-wheels 6 They are also provided with longitudinal passages 9 which extend obliquely from their rear ends to the center of their fiat or normally upper sides, or, in other words, coincidental with the axes of cavities 9 and 9, in which said spindles are j ournaled. Forward of the semi sprocketwheels the spindles are provided with halfconical ends or projections 9, having U- shaped notches 9 in their apices, which register with the grooves or passages 9 The track-rail 5 is of course cut away to admit of journaling the spindle in the side 3 of the stationary frame.

A reciprocatory frame or sill comprises the runner 10, mounted upon the side 2 of the first-named frame, the runner 11, mounted upon the side 3 of said frame, and the crossbars 12, connecting runners 10 and 11, and said reciprocatory sill or frame is held reliably in position by means of a track-rail 5, which fits in a groove 13 in the lower edge of the runner 11. r

A pair of inwardly-projecting dogs 15 and 16, extending parallel with the line of reciprocatory movement of the sill, are pivoted at their outer ends between the lugs 14 of crossbars 12 and are provided at their inner ends with the rearwardly-projecting pins 17, resting upon the cam-bar 7, in order that as the sill reciprocates the cams shall at certain intervals raise one dog or the other, as the case may be, out of the path of the lug 18, projecting radially from the half-spindle 19, journaled in the lower edges of the sled-runners 10 and 11. Said half-spindle is provided with a longitudinal passage 20, which extends obliquely from its rear end forwardly to the center of its front or fiat lower side, or, in other words, coincidental with the axis around which said half-spindle is adapted 'to rotate, and projecting from its rear end is a yoke 21, in which is rotatably mounted the reel or drum 22, carrying the wire 23,Which forms the tie wires, to be hereinafter referred to, of the fence, said wire extending from the reel forwardly through the passage 20, as shown. The half-spindle is provided at suitable points with the semicircular shoulders or collars 24 to prevent endwise movement of the spindle and is also notched, as shown at 25, in its flat or normally under side to fit slidingly over the track-rail 5. At its front end it is furthermore provided with ahalf sprocket-wheel 26, occupying the same vertical plane as the half sprocket-wheels 9 of the half-spindles 9 journaled in the stationary frame. The halfspindle 19, journaled in the sled, is of similar form and size'to the half-spindles 9 so as to form a mate for either of them, and thus provide temporarily a complete spindle, for a purpose hereinafter explained.

A pair of grooved guide rollers 27 are mounted upon pins projecting forward from the sled at opposite sides of and in the same vertical plane as the half sprocket-wheel 26 in order to hold in engagement therewith the endless chain 28, mounted at one end upon a sprocket-wheel 29 and at the opposite end upon a guide pulley or sprocket 30, said wheels 29 and 30 being carried by the stationary frame near its opposite ends and occupying such a plane that the upper strand of the chain slides across the upper or flat faces of all of the spindle-sprockets of the stationary frame except that which happens to be mated at the time with the sprocket-wheel of the sled or reciprocatory frame, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. The wheel 30 by preference is formed integral with a gear-wheel 31, and forward of the latter is a driven shaft 32, supported in any suitable manner, and keyed to slide thereon is a sleeve 33, provided at opposite ends with gear-pinions 34C and 35. A lever 36 is employed to adjust said sleeve upon the shaft, and when it occupies the central notch 37 of an adjacent sector or its equivalent neither pinion engages wheel 31, and the machine consequently is at rest. When the lever is thrown into engagement with notch 38 of the sector, the pinion 35 meshes with wheel 31 and the chain travels in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 2. When, however, the pinion engages the third notch 39 of said sector, the pinion 34 is thrown into engagement with wheel 31 and the travel of the chain is reversed, as will be readily understood.

40 designates an idle roller journaled in the front ends of sills 1, and 41 designates what are generally known as the strand or run wires of the fence, said wires being parallel and extending longitudinally through the grooves or passages 9 of the half-spindles journaled in the stationary frame. Said wires in the customary manner extend from the coils or reels, (not shown,) and after passing down around the idle roller 4.0 are wound upon a suitable driven reel, which, being in common use and public property, is not illustrated or described in this connection.

Assuming that the parts are in the relative position shown in Fig. 1 and that the chain is rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 2, it will be observed that the half-spindle 19 is mated with the half-spindle of the stationary frame to the right, or that through which extends the selvage-wire at the right-hand side of Fig. 1. At the instant the tiewire begins to wind upon the said selvage-wire the latter, together with the remainlng run or strand wires, is fed forward in the direction indicated by the arrow to, Fig. 1, this movement of the strand-wire continuing until in this instance the tie-wire has been wrapped around the same about six times or a sufficient number of times to determine the length of the mesh or interstices between the transverse sections of the tiewire. The spindle continues to turn under the influence of the chain 28 after the movement of the strand-wires has ceased in order that the tie-wire may be wound up to the end of the spindle and once or more tightly around the selvage or strand wire at the end of the spindle, this being necessary to obtain what is known as the square mesh. It will be noticed by reference to Fig. 1 that the turns indicated by A at the ends of the mesh are much more abrupt than the intermediate turns A, where the tie-wire is wound around the selvagewvires. At the instant the spindle completes the last or abrupt revolution the attendant by properly manipulating lever 36 reverses the travel of the chain-that is to say, causes it to travel in the opposite direction from that indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2and consequently as the lug 18 is at this time at the end of its revolution the dog 15 synchronously arrests the movement of the spindle and causes the sled to travel in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. This movement, of course, by the time the halfspindle 19 mates with the next half-spindle 9 on the left draws the tie-wire, as at B, over the corresponding strand or run wire, and at the same instant the pin 17 of dog 15 rides upwardly upon the correspondingly-located cam S of bar 7, which cam by tripping the dog per mits the synchronous revolution of the newlyformed spindle and termination of the sledmovement, the spindle, however, rotating in the direction opposite to that before described.

As this rotatable movement of the spindle begins, the dog 15 clears the said cam and by force of gravity drops back in the path of the lug and arresting the movement of the spindle as it completes one revolution becomes the instrument whereby thechain forces the sled to again travel upon the stationary frame until the next half-spindle 9 is mated and the dog is tripped to permit the newly-formed spindle to rotate. This alternate travel of the sled and rotatable operation of the halfspindles 9", following the successive mating therewith of the half-spindle 19, continues until the latter mates with the spindle 9 at the extreme left, or, in other words, that through which the left-hand selvage-wire extends. At the termination of the first revolution of the spindle around the last-named selvagcwire the strand or run wires together move forwardly in the direction indicated by the arrow a the distance required to form the required length of-mesh, and after such movement of the strand-wires is completed the spindle makes an additional revolution in order to wind the tie-wire up close to its end for a purpose hereinbefore explained. When this revolution is completed, the movement of the chain is again reversed, and the dog 16, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, being in the path of the lug 18, causes the sled to move in the opposite direction to that indicated by Fig. 3. This movementcontinues until said dog is tripped by the next cam 8 to the right, and then the half-spindle 19, mating with the corresponding half-spindle 9 rotates and twists the tie-wire once around the corresponding strand or run wire, as hereinafter explained. All future operationsare repetitions of those described. By the passage of the half-spindle 19 from the right-hand selvage-wire on the right to the adjacent strand or run wire the tie-Wire is drawn obliquely across the space between said wires and is then twisted around said adjacent strandwire, as at B, precisely as it is twisted at A around the selvage-wire, and it will be noted in this connection that the tie-wire begins to coil around the strand-wire at the base of the U-shaped notch in the half-spindle of the stationary frame and at the completion of the revolution made by said newly-formed spindle emerges from the mouth ofsaid notch, this result being caused by reason of the semiconical end or projection of the half-spindle of the stationary frame, as will be readily understood. It is essential that this notch be provided in order that the opposite lips thus formed will hold the strand-wire practically rigid. while the tie-wire is twisted tightly around the same; otherwise the strand-wire would be warped or twisted out of shape.

From the above description it will be ap parent that I have produced a machine by which an extremely strong and durable wire fence may be rapidly Woven and by which the meshes are formed substantially rectangular.

It is to be understood, of course, that changes which do not involve a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention may be resorted to.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A Wire-fence-making machine, comprisin g a stationary frame provided with a pluralfaced cam-bar, half-spindles equal in number to the cam-faces, journaled in said frame and provided with longitudinal passages, a sliding frame upon the stationary frame, a half-spindle j ournaled therein, provided with alug and a longitudinal passage, a reel carried by the said half-spindle containing wire one end of which extends through said half-spindle, a pair of dogs carried by the sliding frame and arranged to engage opposite sides of said lug, and provided with pins for engagement with the said cam-faces, means to move said sliding frame with a step-by-step movement and cause its half-spindle to successively mate with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, and then to reverse such movement and cause it to move intermittently in the opposite direction, and means to rotate the successivelyformed spindles in the intervals between the movements of the sled and twist the tie-wire around the strand-wires, substantially as de-' scribed.

2. A wire-fence-making machine, comprisinga'stationary frame, a series of half-spindles journaled therein and provided with longitudinal passages, through which the strandwires extend, asled mounted upon said frame, ahalf-spindle journaled therein and adapted to successively mate with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, carrying a reel and provided with a passage through which the wire of said reel extends, means to cause one revolution of each half-spindle of the stationary frame as the half-spindle of the sled mates therewith, a dog to limit such rotatable movement to a single revolution, means to adjust the sled until its half-spindle mates with the next half-spindle of the stationary frame, and means to trip said dog as such half-spindles mate, to permit the newly-formed spindle to revolve, and then permit the'dog to drop and assume such position that the rotatable movement is limited to three hundred and sixty degrees, substantially as described.

3. A wire-fence-making machine, comprising a stationary frame, a series of half-spindles j ournaled therein and provided with longitudinal passages, through which the strandwires extend, asled mounted upon said frame,

a half-spindle j ournaled therein and adapted to successively mate with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, carrying a reel and provided with a passage through which the wire of said reel extends, means to cause one revolution of each half-spindle of the stationary frame as the half-spindle of the sled mates therewith, a dog to limit such rotatable movement to a single revolution, means to adjust the sled until its half-spindle mates with the next half-spindle of the stationary frame, a bar provided with cam-shoulders, in number equal to the half-spindles of the stationary frame, and adapted to trip said dog as the half-spindle of the sled mates successively with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, and means to rotate said spindles as they are successively formed, substantially as described.

4. A wire-fence-making machine, comprising a stationary frame, a series of half-spindles journaled therein and provided with longitudinal passages, through which the strandwires extend, asled mounted upon said frame, a half-spindle journaled therein and adapted to successively mate with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, carrying a reel and provided with a passage through which the wire of said reel extends, means to cause one revolution of each half-spindle of the stationary frame as the half-spindle of the sled mates therewith, a dog to limit such movement to a single revolution, means to adjust the sled until its half-spindle mates with the next halfspindle of the stationary frame, a bar provided with cam-shoulders, in number equal to the half-spindles of the stationary frame, and adapted to trip said dog as the half-spindle of the sled mates successitely with the halfspindles of the stationary frame, means to rotate said spindles as they are successively formed, means to cause the sled to move with a step-by-step movement in the opposite direction, and cause its half-spindle to mate successively with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, and to cause each newly-formed spindle to make one revolution, anda second dog, which limits such movement to a single revolution and is tripped by said cam-shoulders as the half-spindle of the sled successively mates with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, substantially as described.

5. A wire-fence-making machine, comprising a stationary frame, a series of half-spindles jourualed therein, through which the strand wires extend, provided with half sprocket-wheels near their front ends, asled mounted upon said frame, a half-spindle j on rnaled therein, provided with a reel, and a passage through which the reel-wire forwardly extends,and with a half sprocket-wheel,guide pulleys'at opposite sides of said half sprocketwheel, a driven chain depressed by said pulleys into engagement with said half sprocketwheel, and adapted to move the sled intermittently, and in the intervals between such movements, when the sled half-spindle mates with one of the half-spindles of the stationary frame, to cause a revolution of the new spindle thus formed, and twist the tie or reel wire around the strand-wire extending through said spindle, substantially as described.

6. A wire-fence-making machine, comprising a stationary frame, a series of half-spindles journaled therein, through which the strandwires extend, provided with half sprocketwheels near their front ends, a sled mounted upon said frame, a half-spindle journaled therein, provided with a reel, and a passage through which the reel-wire forwardly extends, a half sprocket-wheel, and a lug, guidepulleys at opposite sides of said half sprocketwheel, a driven chain depressed by said pulleys into engagement with said half sprocketwheel, and adapted to move the sled intermittently, and in the intervals between such movement, when the sled half-spindle mates with one of the half-spindles of the stationary frame, to cause the revolution of the new halfspindle thus formed, and twist the tire or reel wire around. the strand wire extending through said spindle, a gravity-dog to limit such rotatable movement to a single revolution and thus cause the chain to move the sled,

and the cam to trip said dog out of the path of said lu gas the sled half-spindle mates with the adjacent half-spindle of the frame, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. A wire-fe nce-making machine, comprising a stationary frame, a series of half-spindles journaled therein, provided with half sprocket-wheels, half-conical noses projecting therefrom, having their apices notched, and oblique passages registering at their front ends with said notches, through which the strand-wires extend, a frame mounted slidingly upon the stationary frame, a half-spindle journaled therein, carrying a reel of tiewire and provided with a. passage through which said wire forwardly extends, and'a half sprocket-wheel, means to move said sled with a step-by-step movement and cause its haltspindle to successively mate with the halfspindles of the stationary frame, and then to reverse such movement and cause it to move intermittently in the opposite direction, and means to rotate the successively-formed spindles in the intervals between the movements of the sled and twist the tie-wire around the strand-wires, substantially as described.

8. A wire-fence-making machine, comprising a stationary frame provided with a sectional guide track, a series of half spindles journaled therein, provided with half sprocket-wheels, half-conical noses projecting therefrom, having their apices notched, and oblique passages registering at their front ends with said notches, through which the strand-wires extend, a frame mounted slidin gly upon the stationary-frame track, a halfspindle journaled in said sliding frame, notched at its under side to receive said track, and carrying a reel of tie-wire and provided with a passage through which said wire for- .wardly extends, and a half sprocket-wheel, means to move said sled with a step-by-step movement and cause its half-spindle to successively mate with the half-spindles of the stationary frame, and then to reverse such movement and cause it to move intermittently in the opposite direction, and means to rotate the successively-formed spindles in the intervals between the movements of the sled and twist the tie-wire around the strand-wires, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ASHER SMITH.

Witnesses:

WALLACE ROBERTS, G. W. TOMPKINS. 

